The president's office on Tuesday released a statement saying that Talabani was exhausted.

"Recently, His Excellency President Jalal Talabani spent exhaustive efforts in order to accomplish harmony and stability in the country. Due to fatigue and exhaustion, His Excellency had a health emergency," the office said.

Talabani was elected president of Iraq in 2005, in the nation's first free elections in more than 50 years. This is not the first time he has dealt with serious medical issues. At times, the exact nature of his ailments has been shrouded in secrecy.

In February 2007, he fell ill and was flown to Jordan for treatment, and there were conflicting reports about what prompted his hospitalization. A hospital source told CNN at the time that doctors performed a catheterization procedure on his heart, but his family and aides denied that.

Talabani's doctor and a spokesman for the president's office said then that he was suffering from exhaustion and lung inflammation, and underwent tests they described as precautionary.

He did not return to Iraq until March of that year.

Two months later, Talabani left for medical tests and to lose weight, his office said. He did not return until June.